He left just weeks after an 8 million investment by a UK private investment group saw the arrival of new chief executive officer Paolo Fidanza.

Fidanza said: Paul has made a significant contribution to Vanguards success and he makes this move with our fullest support.

As part of the changes Vanguard sales director Ian Heritage becomes business development director.

Vodafone customers in 12 countries including Belgium France Germany Greece Ireland Italy The Netherlands Portugal Spain

Sweden Switzerland and the UK will be able to access services such as corporate email intranet and personalised information on their phones laptops or PDAs over GPRS.

Vodafone intends to expand GPRS roaming to cover other networks including all remaining

European Vodafone operators and partner networks by the end of the year.

There is no requirement for customers to input additional service access codes to use its services.

Vodafone customers will be billed on a volume basis for accessing their data services over GPRS while roaming in Europe (see Webwatch P50).

PDA manufacturer Handspring has started its first European marketing campaign for its Treo combined GSM phone and handheld computer. A trio of promotion girls (pictured) will demonstrate the Treo at major

London railway stations.

Customers pick the new handset they want and call 17298 from their existing Vodafone pre-pay mobile to transfer their old number to the new SIM card and handset.

When changing their phone customers will also receive an upgraded SIM card that allows access to all the latest services.

If customers take their mobile phone overseas the updated SIM means it will automatically log on to the local Vodafone network so that features like voicemail work as they do in the UK.

Customers can choose from a range of handsets including the Sony J6 Siemens C45 Nokia 8210 and Samsung A300.

Vodafone is also giving people who upgrade their pre-pay phones and remain on the Vodafone network a 20 loyalty credit.

This is according to ICM

Research which interviewed a random selection of 1000 adults last week 67 per cente of which had a mobile phone. per cent

The proportion of concerned mobile phone owners was highest amongst owners aged 18-24 (45 per cent) and female mobile phone owners (43 per cent).

Awareness of the function of the IMEI number was highest amongst male phone owners (58 per cenet vs. per cent 39 per cent).

The need to make a note of the IMEI was highest amongst younger phone owners with 33 per cent of those aged 18-24 saying that they had made a note of the I.M.E.I. number for future reference. per cent

These figures may well give mobile phone operators retailers and handset manufacturers some concern said ICM Researchs Matt Burn. per cent

Firstly if a substantial proportion of phone owners are using their mobiles less freely then they were then the implication could be that they are also using them less often which will impact on the Networks call and data revenues.

Secondly phone buyers may be less likely to consider splashing out on a new flashy phone fearing that an expensive phone may draw unwanted attention and be costly to replace.

The caution expressed also highlights the need for retailers to place additional emphasis on the security aspects and options available wit their handset and price plan.

The survey also showed that 30 per cent of mobile phone owners say that their phone is insured against loss theft or damage

Around 20 per cent had specific mobile phone insurance and 10 per cent covered their phones on house insurance.

Almost 49 per cent of contract owners had insurance for their phone compared to 21 per cent of pre-pay owners according to the survey.

Vodafone has sponsored the Derby meeting since 1995 and in that time has developed a very close association with the event.

Vodafone boss Chris Gent said:

The Vodafone Derby fits extremely well into our current sponsorship portfolio and we are particularly pleased with the way it has developed and prospered over the past few years.

Saturday is now well established as the big race day the huge crowds on the hill are back and a new agreement for the BBC to provide the television coverage is in place.

This years Vodafone Derby takes place at Epsom after the Jubilee Bank Holiday on June 7-8.

Called Talkshare Plus the plan rewards customers for their combined loyalty to the Orange network with lower-cost calls and text messages simpler billing and monthly subscription.

Talkshare Plus allows up to four people to have their own Orange phone and number while sharing the same talk plan based on 200 inclusive minutes of talk-time.

Under Talkshare Plus a primary account holder has the opportunity to share monthly talk plan savings with up to three sharers as well as offering lower call rates and a single itemised bill for the whole household.

Calls between members are always charged as off-peak at just 5p per minute. There are 200 inclusive minutes for a group to share.

A 50 per cent discount on text messaging between sharers means messages are charged at just 5p each.

The bundle also includes one year of Orange Care for the account holder and all sharers who get one itemised bill.

Orange research has shown that a significant number of households have more than one handset| said Orange commercial director David Taylor.

Talkshare Plus is an exciting new service that recognises this and meets the needs of our customers by allowing them to share a bigger talk plan with lower call charges. It rewards customers for their loyalty to Orange.

The new commercial tastefully shows a man who admits he pads out the crotch of his pants with a pair of socks but is ashamed of his out-of-date mobile phone.

The first ad in the series of five featured a man who showed no shame about airing his soiled washing in public but was highly flustered about the state of his old-fashioned mobile phone.

Account director Mark Harrison at ad agency CBJWT said:

Our challenge was to develop Phones 4Us profile further with a treatment that carved a very clear identity for the brand in what is a cut-throat and crowded marketplace.

The discovery was made by one of Pamas Russian partners who spotted leather and plastic phone cases carrying the Pama brand name in Moscow street markets.

The partner became suspicious of the products after noticing they didnt have Pama Manchester England stamped on the packaging. Instead the goods bear a stamp of United Arab Emirates.

Pama development manager Harry Heaney says:

We are most concerned about stopping the counterfeiting before it branches out into electrical goods such as car chargers. The cases are poor quality goods using inferior materials.

We dont want the same sort of problems with electrical goods.

Pama contacted the Russian equivalent of trading standards before contacting The City of Moscow Police.

The Moscow Police then traced the fake goods to what is believed to be the Moscow distributor and seized all counterfeit products. The police have traced the products to a United Arab Emirates-based company trading as Link Bits which is part of AMT International.

Heaney continues: This is a problem that we are keen to stop as soon as possible. We hope to have stopped the production of these goods at the source.

It has taken Pama 20 years to build up a worldwide reputation and the company now exports to over 50 countries worldwide.

So any infringement of our international trademark must be taken seriously.

The news comes as a boost for retailers who have reported demand for MMS handsets over the Christmas period but have expressed dismay that customers can only send picture messages to phones that are on the same network.

People arent aware of the fact that they cant send messages across networks said Paul Hooper of Upland Mobiles. The advertising doesnt tell people this and it only becomes apparent when customers get home and send pictures to friends on other networks.

An Orange spokesperson said it was working hard to have cross-network MMS ready for the Spring:

There are a number of reasons we havent offered cross-network photo messaging. The networks all launched photo messaging at different times. Only now do all four networks offer the service to their own customers she said.

There are also some technical issues that need to be resolved because all four UK networks use a different infrastructure to deliver the messages to handsets. We need to test the handsets for interoperability in order to guarantee a good user experience explained the spokesperson adding: We are confident of full cross-network interoperability by Spring 2003.

Lack of MMS interconnect does not appear to have hindered sales. Vodafone last week reported that it had 90000 UK registered users to its live! service in the last quarter of 2001 (see P6).

Mobile messaging consultancy Mobile Streams chief executive Simon Buckingham said MMS was becoming the biggest success since digital handsets were launched.

MMS is an overwhelming success. The penetration of MMS phones is unprecedented compared with other technologies. Lack of MMS interconnect is not a problem. People can send pictures to phones on other networks via e-mail.

Buckingham says MMS infrastructure is not yet stable enough to support cross-network MMS.